LibreCAD
LibreCAD is a free Open Source CAD application for Windows. Support and documentation is free from our large, dedicated community of users, contributors, and developers. LibreCAD is a fully. LibreCAD is an open-source cross-platform 2D CAD program, which is translated in over 30 languages. LibreCAD is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful. LibreCAD is a great tool for makers and engineers who need to quickly communicate an idea. For more complex objects, LibreCAD’s layer functionality can also help identify possible gaps in the design between parts, or serve as a great tool for creating technical drawings.
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SourceForge
Open Source 2D-CAD
LibreCAD is a free Open Source CAD application for Windows, Apple and Linux. Support and documentation are free from our large, dedicated community of users, contributors and developers.
You, too, can also get involved!
How it started
Librecad 3
LibreCAD started as a project to build CAM capabilities into the community version of QCad for use with a Mechmate CNC router.
Since QCad CE was built around the outdated Qt3 library, it had to be ported to Qt4 before additional enhancements. This gave rise to CADuntu.
The project was known as CADuntu only for a couple of months before the community decided that the name was inappropriate. After some discussion within the community and research on existing names, CADuntu was renamed to LibreCAD.
Porting the rendering engine to Qt4 proved to be a large task, so LibreCAD initially still depended on the Qt3 support library. The Qt4 porting was completed eventually during the development of 2.0.0 series, thanks to our master developer Rallaz, and LibreCAD has become Qt3 free except in the 1.0.0 series.
Meanwhile, for LibreCAD 2.2.0 series, Qt5 is mandatory.
LibreCAD is a feature-packed and mature 2D-CAD application with some really great advantages:
Completely and Utterly Free
No worries about trials, subscriptions, license costs or annual fees.
Open Source and GPLv2
Developed by an experienced team and supported by an awesome community, LibreCAD is also free to hack and copy.
No Language Barriers
It's available in over 30 languages with cross-platform support for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
macOS
Help is needed for macOS deployment.
Librecad Tutorial
from SourceForge
Find latest stable DMG packages there.
from GitHub
Find latest stable DMG packages there.
Windows
from SourceForge
Find latest stable EXE installer there.
Also automated nightly build installer for bleeding-edge versions.
from GitHub
Find latest stable EXE installer there.
Also special prerelease installer for beta testing versions.
Linux
Check your distributions preferred package manager, if LibreCAD is available there. But the version may be a bit older.
For Debian/Ubuntu distributions, you can use our Launchpad PPAs for stable or daily versions.
Build from source
This is an option for all platforms.
If we don't have the binary installer you are looking for, you can try to build LibreCAD from source code.
How this works for each platform can be read in our Wiki .
Source code could be downloaded from GitHub as ZIP archive.
Or you can clone or fork our repository, which is recommended if you plan to contribute.
The LibreCAD team is a small group of dedicated people. Lots of things have been worked out, but plenty of bugs and features are still waiting to be solved. How can you help? We need all the skills in the community as coders, writers, testers or translators.
An open source community is a dynamic thing; people come and go as their private situation drives or stops them contributing. So, it will always help if you have existing resources we can use, know what other projects do in specific areas, or, most importantly, do what you do best and have fun doing it!
You don't have to sign a lifetime contract to contribute. Whether you can help others in the forum, garden the wiki, or apply one or many patches, our broad user base will appreciate your work.
Come join our community, and contribute in any way you like.
Librecad Vs Autocad
Developing
If you are an outstanding developer in C++ or a beginner we can use your help.
With a bit of determination, the IRC channel, Zulip chat and the Libre-CAD-dev mailing list, we can help you get started and make progress.
All you need is linked in download section and top links above.
Documentation
Developers usually make bad documentation for users, so if you like making documentation, great!
There have been extensive GUI changes in 2.1 series which need to be documented.
Translation
Help localize LibreCAD, we currently support over 30 languages.
Our translation server is over here: https://translate.librecad.org/ .
You can complete new languages, or request creating translations for a new language in the forum .
As a non-profit, community driven open source project LibreCAD is dependent on having good relationships with friends and sponsors.
Friends
BRL-CAD
BRL-CAD is a powerful open source cross-platform solid modelling system that includes interactive geometry editing, high-performance ray-tracing for rendering and geometric analysis, a system performance analysis benchmark suite, geometry libraries for application developers, and more than 30 years of active development.
BRL-CAD and LibreCAD collaborate in Google programs. We participate under the umbrella of BRL-CAD in Google Code-in and Google Summer of Code where we mentor school pupils and students in participating in open source projects.
Sponsors
JetBrains
Librecad Review
JetBrains has generously supplied us with CLion licenses for the development of LibreCAD. This powerful IDE helps you develop in C and C++ on Linux, OS X and Windows, enhancing your productivity with a smart editor, code quality assurance, automated refactoring, and deep integration with CMake build system.